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LYMELIFE Send This Review to a Friend
We’re in dysfunctional family territory again, this time in 1979 on suburban Long Island. Writer-director Derick Martini combines a coming of age story with the troubles of adults against the background of values that need examination and a community getting paranoid about Lyme disease. The screenplay, written by Derek and Stephen Martini, is cluttered, but the film benefits from a charismatic cast.
Rory Culkin plays Scott Bartlett, 15, who is awkwardly trying to make sense of his life and the lives of those about him. Kieran Culkin plays Scott’s older brother Jimmy, about to be sent to war. The household of the brothers is being torn apart. Alec Baldwin, who adds depth and something special to whatever role he plays, here is cast as Mickey, the father, who is married to Brenda, well delineated by the Jill Hennessy in a very different type role from the one I came to appreciate her for in “Law and Order.” Mickey has a dream of creating a real estate development into which he is pouring his energy.
Well, not all of it. He uses some of it bedding his next door neighbor Melissa, played by Cynthia Nixon, whose husband Charlie, a sad sack portrayed by Timothy Hutton, really has Lyme Disease and retreats more and more into himself. Added further to the complications is the fact that Scott is sweet on Adrianna (Emma Roberts), who is the daughter of Melissa and Charlie.
There are life lessons to be learned all around as the tensions mount dangerously and Scott’s adolescent world, complicated by issues he has with his father, weighs in on him. A Screen Media Films release.
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